scholarly journals Observation of asexual reproduction with symbiont transmission in planktonic foraminifera

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruka Takagi ◽  
Atsushi Kurasawa ◽  
Katsunori Kimoto

Abstract Gamete release has been frequently observed in laboratory cultures of various species of planktonic foraminifera. Those observations have been taken as evidence that these organisms produce new generations exclusively by sexual reproduction. We report here the first observation of asexual reproduction in Globigerinita uvula, a small, microperforate foraminifera. The asexual phase was associated with the release of ca. 110 offspring, all of which hosted symbiotic algae that must have been passed on directly from the parent. This event was also the first observation of vertical transmission of symbionts in planktonic foraminifera. Although the trigger of the observed asexual reproduction and its frequency in nature remain unknown, our observation indicates that among the planktonic foraminifera, at least G. uvula has not abandoned the asexual phase of its life cycle.

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 726-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Shyam

This paper deals with the morphology, reproduction, and cytology of a new species of Dysmorphococcus, viz., Dysmorphococcus sarmaii sp. nov. (Phacotaceae, Volvocales) from India. The lorica of this flagellate displays a remarkable morphological variability in nature as well as in culture under laboratory conditions. The alga is characterised by an anteriorly bilobed pentagonal lorica ornamentated with polygonal pores, a massive globose chloroplast that lacks a pyrenoid and almost completely occupys the protoplast, a prominent red stigma, two contractile vacuoles located anteriorly near the insertion of the flagella, and flagella that are equal to or a little longer than the length of the lorica. The pentagonal lorica of the present taxon differs remarkably from the broadly ovoid to globose lorica of D. variabilis Takeda, D. coccifer Korschikoff, and D. globosus Bold and Starr. The lorica of D. sarmaii is somewhat comparable in shape to D. punctatus Fott because of its bilobed anterior but differs from the latter in its ornamentation. The massive globose chloroplast lacking a pyrenoid in the present alga differs remarkably from the other species of this genus where the chloroplast possesses one or several pyrenoids. In addition, asexual reproduction, which is accomplished by division of the protoplast within the lorica, results in the production of 8–16 zoospores as compared with the earlier record of 2 and 4 zoospores in this genus. The alga is heterothallic and sexual reproduction, which was not known for the earlier described species of the genus Dysmorphococcus, takes place by isogametes produced 16–32(–64) per cell. The chromosome number recorded for D. sarmaii is n = 10.


2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Tokuda ◽  
Yoichi Ezaki

Truncatoflabellumhas been considered a free-living genus that exhibits both sexual and asexual phases; divided lower coralla (anthocauli) are specialized for asexual reproduction by transverse division through a decalcification process, whereas the upper coralla (anthocyathi) only undertake sexual reproduction, in a life-cycle strategy that includes a distinct alternation of generations. However, little evidence has been presented to support this idea of its life cycle. We elucidate the life mode ofTruncatoflabellumby identifying key fossil characters (e.g., multiple rejuvenations and decalcification records just beneath lateral spines) and statistically analyzing the size distributions of over 500 individual coralla. Results of those morphological and biometric analyses clearly indicate alternation of generations in the life cycle ofTruncatoflabellum.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina A. Volkova

Identification of Spirogyra species is based on the morphology of the fertile specimens. This work provides characteristics of growth and the time of reproduction of Spirogyra decimina var. juergensii in Lake Baikal and describes sexual reproduction and conditions for germination of new filaments of this species isolated from the lake.


Impact ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (6) ◽  
pp. 73-75
Author(s):  
Akihiko Watanabe

One of the unifying traits of life on this planet is reproduction, or life's ability to make copies of itself. The mode of reproduction has evolved over time, having almost certainly begun with simple asexual reproduction when the ancestral single celled organism divided into two. Since these beginnings' life has tried out numerous strategies, and perhaps one of the most important and successful has been sexual reproduction. This form of reproduction relies on the union of gametes, otherwise known as sperm and egg. Evolutionarily, sexual reproduction allows for greater adaptive potential because the genes of two unique individuals have a chance to recombine and mix in order to produce a new individual. Unlike asexual reproduction which produces genetically-identical clones of the parent individual, sex produces offspring with novel genes and combinations of genes. Therefore, in the face of new selective pressures there is a higher chance that one of these novel genetic profiles will produce an adaptation that is advantageous in the new circumstances. Dr Akihiko Watanabe is a reproductive biologist based in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science Yamagata University in Japan, he is currently working on three research projects; a comparative study on the signalling pathways for inducing sperm motility and acrosome reaction in amphibians, the mechanism behind the adaptive modification of sperm morphology and motility, and the origin of sperm motility initiating substance (SMIS).


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 164 (3) ◽  
pp. 1099-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah P Otto

AbstractIn diploids, sexual reproduction promotes both the segregation of alleles at the same locus and the recombination of alleles at different loci. This article is the first to investigate the possibility that sex might have evolved and been maintained to promote segregation, using a model that incorporates both a general selection regime and modifier alleles that alter an individual’s allocation to sexual vs. asexual reproduction. The fate of different modifier alleles was found to depend strongly on the strength of selection at fitness loci and on the presence of inbreeding among individuals undergoing sexual reproduction. When selection is weak and mating occurs randomly among sexually produced gametes, reductions in the occurrence of sex are favored, but the genome-wide strength of selection is extremely small. In contrast, when selection is weak and some inbreeding occurs among gametes, increased allocation to sexual reproduction is expected as long as deleterious mutations are partially recessive and/or beneficial mutations are partially dominant. Under strong selection, the conditions under which increased allocation to sex evolves are reversed. Because deleterious mutations are typically considered to be partially recessive and weakly selected and because most populations exhibit some degree of inbreeding, this model predicts that higher frequencies of sex would evolve and be maintained as a consequence of the effects of segregation. Even with low levels of inbreeding, selection is stronger on a modifier that promotes segregation than on a modifier that promotes recombination, suggesting that the benefits of segregation are more likely than the benefits of recombination to have driven the evolution of sexual reproduction in diploids.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1168-1174
Author(s):  
A.A. Poroshina ◽  
◽  
D.Yu. Sherbakov ◽  

Abstract. Using a computer simulation model, we tried to investigate how the transition from sexual reproduction to asexual reproduction will affect the population of diploid organisms with a neutral character of molecular evolution. At the same time, special attention was paid to the specificity of microsatellite markers. In this paper, we develop fast and inexpensive methods for assessing the changes in populations that occur with a change in reproductive strategy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Massalski ◽  
T. Mrozińska ◽  
M. Olech

<i>Lobosphaera reniformis</i> (Wat.) Kom. et Fott (=<i>Chlorella reniformis</i> Wat.) so far known only from Japan, and Papua Island, was for the first time found in Antarctica (King George Island, South Shetland Islands). In laboratory cultures a complete life cycle was obtained, and most of its stages were followed by the electron microscopy. Reproduction is by morphologically different autospores. In some large vegetative cells two Golgi apparatuses lying side by side were observed.


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